Last spring I had a play of a bass belonging to a member of a very successful rock band. I won't name them because they don't know their tech let me play it. It was set up horrible. It was a 60's P bass, looked beautiful but the action was about a foot high at the 12th fret. I couldn't play it be he does pretty well with it.
A guitarist I used to play with had a play of an old Ronnie Wood guitar and said that was awful with a really high action.
Maybe it's us amateurs who have got it all wrong with our low action